Running

Who would have thought that I’d become a track/cross country mom. For those who don’t know, track is an all-encompassing sport. It requires so much time – between practice 3 or 4 times a week and meets on Saturdays that turn into marathon days. There are days when it’s scorching hot, days when it’s freezing cold – believe me it’s not for wimps!!   Well one day after school, Nayda, who was around eight at the time, came home and announced that she wanted to run track. Apparently another little girl in her class ran track and they would race each other during recess at school. Prior to this time, one of Yamil’s basketball coaches had given me the name of a track coach and a phone number. The basketball coach felt that Yamil should run track. He kept telling me how fast Yamil was. For some reason I kept that piece of paper even though Yamil made it perfectly clear that he was not interested in running. Given Yamil’s personality I understood that.  Yamil is a real “social kind of guy” and track, for the most part, is a loner sport.  Yamil flourishes when he’s part of a team – when others are depending on him, he becomes super motivated. I mustered up the courage to call the track coach and explained that I had an 8 year old that expressed an interest in track. He told me to bring her out but not to sign her up right away. In the beginning of the season they do a bit of cross country work – just running for miles. He said that if she still wanted to run after that, then I should sign her up. So off we went. Neither one of us is particularly social so this was a big deal. There was a very dear parent/coach, Mr. Beard, who took Nayda with him on the runs. She would go with him each time (never talking) and run just as far as he would run. Each day I ask her if she wanted to go back and she always said yes. She was well aware of my rule that once you commit, then you must finish. Mr. Beard would tell me that she never complained and she would just keep running. They grew to look forward to seeing each other three times a week. He became her “track buddy”.

Each year the team would take qualified athletics to the USATF Junior Nationals which are held in different places each year. For that trip the athletics stay for about a week. I made every single track meet (and practice) during the regular season but I never was able to go to the Nationals because of the cost and the time I would need to be away from the other children. The year that she was in the 11-12 age group her 4 x 4 relay team made it to the Nationals after having qualified in the locals, the Association and the Regionals. That year, the Nationals were going to be held in Nebraska. Statistically there was a pretty good chance that they would medal and of course I wanted to be there. I explained to Nayda that I wouldn’t be able to come and how bad I felt about not going. We barely had money for her to go and stay the week. Behind the scenes I was working on finding a way to surprise her and be there. I had arranged for one of the coaches to be able to pick me up from the airport that Friday night and I would go back on Sunday afternoon. It was so hard trying to keep it from her. The more we talked about the upcoming event, the more excited she became. When I dropped her off for the trip she looked so sad. I hugged her and said “I’ll see you when you get back”. I believe the team left on that Wednesday. Friday after work I made my way to the airport. Everything worked out according to plan and the coach met me at the airport in Nebraska. I could only tell limited people since I didn’t want it to get out that I was planning on being there. Everybody kept asking me if I was going and how I must feel pretty badly about not being able to go. Even after I got to the hotel, I had to be careful who saw me before they got Nayda to come downstairs. I was sitting in the lobby in the lounge when she got off the elevator. The expression on her face was priceless!!!! She kept looking at me blinking her eyes. She finally said “what are you doing here?” Everybody started laughing. The girls went on to medal in the 4 X 4 relays that year. It seems that was the beginning of so many wonderful track moments. You wouldn’t believe how many miles I put on my car during her high school years traveling to the meets; some in PA, some in NJ, NY, NC, SC. I particularly enjoyed the Penn Relays. I traveled to Philadelphia every year that she participated and even a few years that she didn’t. Additionally, I even grew to love cross country. There is nothing like the teamwork of cross country. It teaches you valuable lessons about relying on each other and about leaving no one behind. I actually think of all the running events, whether indoor, outdoor, outdoor club summer track and cross country, I like cross country the best. It builds so much character. For those who don’t understand how it works; each team has seven runners.  The team that gets all of its seven runners in before any other team gets all of their seven runners in, wins. The race (for girls) is 3.1 miles over all kinds of terrain and in all kinds of weather – rain, sleet, snow, freezing temperatures. I can’t even begin to tell you all the practices in the snow and freezing temperatures that I sat through. There were even nights that I would take her up to the track and sit in the car with the heat on watching her run around the field just so she would get her required mileage in for the week. There were meets where they ran in mud – slipping and sliding and falling all along the way. You have to have so much determination to keep going. There were meets where I’d run along side of her encouraging her to keep going until I myself would almost collapse from exhaustion. There were times when I’d stand near the finish line waiting to see each girl come up over that last hill –  wondering who would come first. Once seeing the first girl, I immediately start looking for the other six. My heart would start racing with anticipation, desperately looking for Nayda. The moment I would see her I would start hollering “you’re almost there! Keep pushing, keep working…..dig,dig,dig”. The beauty of cross country is that you can have different skill levels, but your teammates almost will you to finish. There are often many spot changes during the course of the race. You can see them disappear into the woods in a certain order and when they come out it can be totally different!!! Everybody gives their everything knowing that they all need to finish before being eligible for the win. When one teammate gets tired, the other ones start encouraging them to keep going, to keep up to keep pushing. It’s such a beautiful concept!!!!! In life we need those people, that core set of individuals who never leave us in the lurch. When we fall down, they are there to help us up. Those who, despite all odds, stay in our corner, who will carry us (if necessary) to the next level. When we get tired and discouraged those are the people who step up and give us that much needed jolt of adrenaline to keep us going. It was during cross country that I saw my child being transformed from being an introvert to being a team captain, of being that person whom others looked to for guidance and motivation. It is that same spirit that has led her to coaching other 11/12 girls and boys to do and be their best. It is also that same spirit that many days encouraged and still encourages me – but that is another story for another time……..

“All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why.  Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself.  It’s what you do for others.”  

Danny Thomas